Deer

We used to see more deer before the developers started building. I watched a young buck one year as he grew his antlers, He was with a couple of young does. Then, he disappeared and I never did see him again. I used to walk very early in the morning, with a flashlight to get me through the woods where there often were deer browsing. They are so curious. I could shine my flashlight at them and they would stand still as I approached them. I did not get too close, it's not a Disney world out there. These two does were part of a herd from one of the last open spaces left in the area.

Late Summer

This photo is from a few years ago, taken at the town park. The town leased part of the park to a summer theatre. There was a barn theatre and large house where the actors ,etc., stayed. For a few years, there was also a theatre of the deaf. There was a large field that was used for recreation. At times, you could see the actors in the middle of that field rehearsing their lines, sometimes in a very loud voice. Lots of goldenrod around the edge of the field which attracted the Monarch butterflies. There were crabapple trees and beach roses that had large rosehips in the fall. A path took you to the dunes and a great beach. It was crowded in summer, but a great place to walk, take the dog, fly kites, or fish in off season. Sometimes, (not often), you could see submarines traveling up to the Groton sub base. Our dog was a Golden Retriever and you could not keep her out of the water, resulting in a wet and sandy car on the way home.

Red !

We hired a painter to paint the house. He was a good worker and did a great job with lots of prep work. He asked what color to put on the hatchway. It had been a barn red, which I suggested would be my choice. Maybe he doesn't know "barn red", but this is what he did. It's a shiny, bright, red and can be seen from a great distance. It grows on you!

Sumac

The little Sumac had its moment of glory before it was cut down. The farmer repaired the barn boards and it had to go. It was the only Sumac in the area and not a beauty by any means, until a sunny day in autumn, when splayed out against the old wood, I couldn't pass it by without taking a photo. I had hoped it would re-generate, but it didn't.

Sunset

Taken a few years ago, this is the Pilgrim Monument at sundown from North Truro, Massachusetts on Cape Cod.

Icy Morning

Some years ago, after a freezing rain, I went out with my camera before dawn. Everything had a coating of ice. The sun came up and there were hundreds of rainbows on the bushes. I snapped away, thinking what great photos I had. Of course, the rainbows didn't show up in the pictures. What I did end up with was this one of the sun behind the ice covered trees. When the sun rose, it all melted very fast.

Chipmunks

Cute critters! They come for the seeds I put out for the squirrels. Today one climbed into the small red maple and scavenged for maple seeds still clinging to the branches. We have red squirrels, too, but the grey squirrels chase them so we don't see them very often.

First Light

Sometimes, at first light, fog covers the field.
As the day lightens, it rises. I like this photo of the old shed.

Last of the Autumn Colors

After he cuts his hay, the farmer reseeds for next years crop. The new grass is like a green carpet. This view is from the field where I walk, to another field across the road. It is now a heavily traveled road, narrow and winding. Drivers speed through here during commuter times.
Trees lining these fields are mostly "Swamp Maples" and put on a good show in the fall.
A couple of years ago, the farmer went around the perimeter of the property and cut down a lot of nice young trees, including a big beautiful white birch and several cedars.There appeared to be no reason to destroy them because they did not shade his crop nor did it widen the area. He had a "field day" with his chainsaw. In very early spring, deer come to munch on the grass here. I thought they only ate brush, etc.. Once there were a dozen.

Morning Walk

I took my early morning walk in the woods today. There is a hill behind the house to get to the trail, so the sun doesn't reach the back yard right away. I walked through the woods and around the hayfield and started back along the edge of the trees. Suddenly, the sun rose over the horizon and through the trees. It created a wonderful glow as it lit up the golden beech leaves through the grayness of the now bare oaks. I could not do it justice in this photo, but it will remind me of my morning walk. It's November now. Autumn never lasts long enough for me. I love everything about it. The colors, crisp air, warm sun, leaves to shuffle through. I was an October baby so maybe that's why.

Ropes

At the Seaport Museum, there is an old whaling ship, the Morgan, that has been restored and is open to the public. The Seaport is a popular tourist spot. It is a village replicating the historical era of whaling ships. Lots to see here. I used to bring visitors here when they spent time at my house. It is in Mystic, Connecticut. There is an aquarium in Mystic, too. They had beluga whales and dolphins, etc..I think they had a walrus, too. I took this photo on my last visit to the museum a few years ago.

Joe Pye Weed in Bloom

At the state park in Waterford, CT. where I used to live there is a short nature trail. In the summer, "Joe Pye Weed" in bloom lines the entrance. You can see deer here, if you're lucky. Once a partridge rushed her chicks off the path into the brush as I walked. The path takes you down to Long Island Sound where there are egrets fishing. There are nesting platforms for Ospreys. Some years, there are not very many nesting however. You can usually see herons, too. This water is the entrance to the Thames River and to New London Harbor (here Thames is pronounced just as it is written and not the English, "Tems"). It's a popular park in summer and peaceful and quiet off season. I used to come here after work to unwind. I miss it.

Old Harbor Station, Cape Cod, Massachusetts

This is the old life saving station. It was originally in Chatham and moved, by barge, across to the tip of Cape Cod. I was able to see the restoration progress when I vacationed on the Cape every fall. It is finished now and opened to the public. The Life-Saving Service started with the Massachusetts Humane Society in 1786. The lives they saved were those of seamen on shipwrecks off the Northeast Coast. It has a fascinating history,
A book on this has been written by Richard G. Ryder and published by Ram Island Press.

Curing Tobacco

At the end of October, the tobacco is ready to be taken down. A crew of workers remove the leaves from the stems and bale them up. If they are lucky, the weather is mild. Sometimes, it is very cold and no heat is available. A lot of the crew come from Jamaica. They come up to do farm work, harvesting apples, and working in tobacco, etc.. They have their own farms at home, I think. I often see them in town, sending money by wire or money order back home.

Compass Grass

The winds in the dunes create these circles. The dunes are ever changing, shifting the sand. It's hard to imagine how these grasses survive in this environment.

Blue Skies, Red Tractor

The hayfield and a tobacco shed have been leased by our neighbor to a local
farmer. He grows and sells vegetables, greenhouse flowers, bedding straw and hay
at his stand, and grows several acres of tobacco at various locations. The
haying operation is an interesting one. After the hay is cut and dried, it is
raked into rows and is then baled, tied and stacked onto the haywagon in one
pass over the field. When I was a child, my mother's father, Grandpa Eastwood, worked the fields with a team of horses. He did it all. After cutting, he would turn it with a tedder and put it into rows. the haywagon would be driven by and a crew of two or three men would toss forkfuls up to a man on the wagon. Hay was brought to the barn and put into the haymow by the forkful. Grandpa was an Englishman and loved his tea. Mother would make tea for him as he worked the field and send barefoot me over the newly cut field for his afternoon tea break. I took shoes off on the first day of school vacation and by September the soles of my feet were really toughened up.
The smell of new mown hay brings back that time in my life, and the pain of running over the sharp stubble.

Goldenrod

The old tobacco shed was falling apart. The doors were secured shut until kids found this place for a hangout. Doors were repaired and the shed put to use. In late summer, goldenrod abounds here and on the borders of the hayfield. I wanted to get black-eyed-susans to take hold. Like Johnny Appleseed, I scattered seed every year. I was rewarded with only one small brave plant that produced one little blossom. Nature knows what it wants and it was not black-eyed-susans!

Backlighting

I took a photography class when I got my 35. This was quite a few years ago. We were supposed to use backlighting. At the edge of a marsh, in a local state park, I took this shot. It was fall, I remember and the sun was warm with a cool breeze. My kind of weather.

X's and Y's

The inside of an old tobacco drying shed. Soon, tobacco filled it to the rafters. The side slats were closed during rainy weather. The green tobacco leaves started to turn color, first golden and eventually brown. When I walked by as it cured, the smell was very intense. It was taken down in late fall and baled. Tobacco grown in these parts is "binder" tobacco, I believe. " Wrapper" is grown in the Connecticut River valley and is called "shade grown" because it is grown under fabric tents. I worked as a kid in a tobacco shed sorting leaves that had been re-hydrated with steam. The smell permeated my clothes and hair. I think most of the workers were older women. The smell from this shed brings back that memory.

Milkweed

Milkweed pods always give us a treat when they open and the seeds float away. They do attract Monarch butterflies, although I did not see any this year. This is an old photo taken with my old 35.

Snow and Shadows

My favorite subject. I like this photo a lot. This is not a very scenic area, but over the course of four seasons, this old tobacco shed provides a lot of opportunity for a variety of shots.

Sue's Poodles

This is a collage I created from photos of my friend's dogs. Rocky is the silver one, a large toy poodle. He had a short dog show career, but apparently grew over the standard height. He is very bright and lovable. The beautiful black boy is Sydney, who came down from Nova Scotia. He is also very smart and fun to be with. These two have "replaced" a pair of dogs that Sue lost. Both were senior citizens and led a wonderful long life, but they have left an empty place in Sue's life. They were actually irreplaceable and Sue still grieves over their loss.

Ferns

My mother had a collection of ferns. They still grow here. Some of the large ones line the north side of the house. These Maidenhair ferns are on a slope on the south side shaded by some evergreens. They were especially beautiful this year.

Ginko Trees

There are two in the back yard here. They are not spectacular, but are interesting. Their leaves are fan shaped and green. In fall they turn yellow and are very pretty. At the first cold days, they drop their leaves. Sometimes in a matter of a few minutes the whole tree will shed them. I always watch for that. Sometimes they will lose them overnight.....not one leaf left. Ginkos are a link to our prehistoric past. In existance for 200 million years! I just looked this up on Wikipedia. They survived the Hiroshima bomb, having been found at the epicenter of the blast, they lived without malformations. One of ours produces fruit, although not anything you would eat. The seed is enjoyed by our squirrels. Apparently, there are male and female trees so I guess we have one of each. Their leaf design has been used in a lot of fabrics.

Squirrels

One year there were no acorns. In the early summer, the oaks had dropped the tiny undeveloped acorns. Also, the nut trees were barren and pine cones were few. I read that this was "nature's way" of controling the squirrel population. Thinking that did seem cruel on nature's part, I got raw peanuts at the feed store and, along with sunflower seeds, fed our squirrels through the coldest part. Somehow, it has become an obligation on my part and I have continued doing it ever since. I don't think it was the wisest thing to do since they, and the chipmunks and wild birds, now depend on me. We also have increased their numbers. Now, we have six to eight every day looking for their hand-outevery day. Actually, after a snow storm a couple of years ago there were thirty plus!
Every year I think I will stop in late spring and just not put anything out, but they still come. They are fun to watch.